After Li Xianzhong ordered the siege of the city, the artillery of the Liaodong Army began to rain cannonballs on the city of Jinan.

The Hongyi cannons used by the Liaodong Army before were actually imitations of Western smoothbore cannons.

It's just that the granulated black powder of the Liaodong Army is blessed with white sugar, which makes their Hongyi cannon surpass the current Western artillery of the same specification in terms of firepower and range.

But this is only because the gunpowder formula is more advanced than in the West, so the advantage is not great.

In fact, the Hongyi cannon is essentially a ship-based gun, and it is not particularly suitable for land warfare.

As a person of later generations, although Li Xianzhong can't make cannons, he can still give some advice to those professionals.

At present, Li Xianzhong has 3 artillery experts under his command.

The first is naturally the "17th-century craft encyclopedia" Song Yingxing.

However, Song Yingxing is an all-round scientist, and artillery is not his specialty.

Relatively speaking, Han Gonggong of the Liaodong Arsenal and Sun Yuanhua, who was done with ideological work, are very professional.

Li Xianzhong proposed to them the concept of rifled guns.

Rifled guns are guns with different numbers of rifling engraved in the barrel, which can effectively ensure the stability of the projectile and improve the firing range.

As the name suggests, the shells are front-loaded, and the shells slide directly from the muzzle.

The projectile of the rifled gun is slightly larger than the caliber of the gun, so the ammunition is generally loaded from the tail of the gun.

The bullet belt is tightly sealed with the rifling wire, which can prevent the leakage of gunpowder gas and ensure that the gunpowder gas has enough thrust on the projectile to increase the firing range and increase the shooting intensity.

It is no exaggeration to say that rifled guns subverted traditional artillery and was a milestone in the history of artillery development.

However, it is very difficult to manufacture.

First of all, high-quality steel is needed, ensuring that the barrel can withstand the impact of rifled fire.

Secondly, it is not simple to engrave rifling in the barrel.

In fact, a prototype of a rifled gun was made several years ago.

However, the rifling technology could not be mass-produced, the production cycle was very long, and the yield was low, which led to the fact that this gun could not be mass-produced.

After several years, the Liaodong Arsenal improved the original hydraulic machine tools and greatly shortened the production cycle of rifled guns, and only then began to install the Liaodong Army.

Li Xianzhong carried this new type of rifled gun with him when he went south.

The Ming army's imitation of the Dutch's 18-pounder Hongyi cannon had a range of 5-6 miles, and the Liaodong Army's previous 18-pounder ship-borne Hongyi cannon could hit a range of more than 7 li.

The newest 18-pounder rifled cannon has a firing range of up to 10 miles.

In order to cooperate with this rear-loading gun, the Liaodong Arsenal also modified the shells to make them more powerful.

Moreover, the shelling accuracy of this artillery is much higher than that of the previous Hongyi cannon.

After repeated tests, his shooting error was less than 5 meters.

Due to Hou Sui's arrogance, it was unfortunate that Jinan City became an experiment for this new type of artillery.

A full 40 18-pounder rifled cannons were lined up outside the city of Jinan, and then countless shells exploded on the head of the city of Jinan.

directly blew up the city tower in Jinan.

And the huge impact of the cannonballs caused huge casualties to the soldiers in the city.

Although the sandbags they piled up on the city increased the protection of the soldiers to a certain extent, the huge air wave still directly shook many soldiers off the city tower.

Moreover, the accuracy of these cannons is so high that if half of the shells of ordinary Hongyi cannons can hit the city, they can already be regarded as well-trained artillerymen.

But almost all of these cannons can hit the city, and only a few shells will fly.

In just one round of shelling, the Yulin battalion in the city suffered seven or eight hundred casualties.

Everywhere there were stumps and broken arms, and the painful wails of wounded soldiers!

At this time, Zuo Liangyu's intestines were all repentant, and the artillery of the Liaodong Army was so sharp.

In just one round of shelling, half of the Hongyi artillery on the city of Jinan was blown up.

He hurriedly ordered the city's artillery to return fire, and despite the rumbling of the cannons, their artillery was still far from the Liaodong Army.

The morale of the defenders of Jinan instantly fell to the bottom.

After several rounds of shelling, all the Hongyi cannons in the city were scrapped.

However, Li Xianzhong did not order an immediate siege of the city, but ordered the army to rest in place.

Zhang Zhiji on the side asked puzzledly: "Jinan City has no morale, and the siege of the city will definitely be carried out in one drum at this time, why did the prince suddenly stop attacking?" ”

Li Xianzhong said: "The reason why Hou Sui and these Donglin Party members resisted desperately was not because of how loyal they were to Emperor Chongzhen, but because they represented the interests of the vast number of gentry. ”

"The 'gentry pay for food' implemented by this king has hit the privileges of these bureaucrats and gentry, and cutting off people's financial resources is like killing their parents, so they will desperately block it!"

"What they are blocking is not the king's army, but His Majesty's 'Hongguang New Deal'!"

Zhang Zhiji said: "The prince's new policy is a good policy for the benefit of the country and the people, and these people are doing it against the tide for their own selfish interests!" It's just a mantis arm blocking the car, and it's just a humiliation! ”

Zhang Zhiji, as a powerful person in the current dynasty, can say this, which really makes Li Xianzhong look at him differently, this kid has high political consciousness and a future!

Li Xianzhong said: "If everyone has the consciousness of Ling Zun British Prince, how many killings will be reduced in this world!" ”

Zhang Zhiji said with a smile: "Although the last general does not have the high consciousness of my father, I know from the first time I saw the prince that there will be no shortage of silver if I follow the prince." ”

"How much silver is there for that little Tianfu, and following the prince to go overseas is a big deal to make money every day, and those people stare at the three melons and two dates in the hands of the common people all day long, they are all rich people who have never seen the world!"

Li Xianzhong said: "After these rebellions are quelled, our focus can be placed overseas." Don't worry, when did this king treat his own brother badly, and then there will be benefits for everyone! ”

Zhang Zhiji hurried to thank him in advance!

Although Li Xianzhong did not immediately attack the city, the current situation in Jinan City is not optimistic!

Most of the gentry of Shandong gathered in the city of Jinan.

Since Zheng Zhilong ravaged Denglai a few years ago, their life has not been easy, and these pirates have just "killed" for them.

The gentry in Denglai and the two states were directly robbed and killed, and they not only asked for their land and silver, but also their heads.

When they saw Zheng Zhilong's "pirate army", they hated it so much.

That's why I paid money and food to let Zuo Liangyu defend Jinan Mansion.

At this moment, they all gathered in the mansion of King Zhu Youshu!

Gao Hongshang, the younger brother of Gao Hongtu, the secretary of the Ministry of Industry, said: "Previously, the Haikou attacked Jinan, if we broke the city, we would only have a dead end, and now Li Xianzhong, the king of Liaodong County, came in person, we might as well open the city and surrender!" ”

"Although the Hongguang Imperial Court wants to 'pay grain for the gentry in one piece' and collect commercial taxes, it is better than losing your head!"

At this time, King De spoke, and he said: "Brother Gao, don't be too naïve, as far as this king knows, Zheng Zhilong's East Ryukyu Company was originally made by Li Xianzhong. ”

"According to reliable information, these so-called Haikou are actually the Liaodong Army!"

"So the one who robbed us of our land and silver and asked for our heads was not Haikou Zheng Zhilong at all, but Li Xianzhong, the king of Liaodong County!"

Although these people had heard some rumors about Zheng Zhilong and Li Xianzhong, and guessed the relationship behind them, when King De told the truth in public, it still caused quite a stir!

Fan Fucui, a gentry from Jinan, said: "Li Xianzhong's guy is really too ruthless, it's even more terrible than a rogue, do we have only one way to die?" ”

Gao Hongshang said: "Actually, Li Xianzhong is nothing more than asking us to take the lead in supporting his 'Hongguang New Deal', and now that our land has been robbed by him, we will take out some silver to sacrifice the army, I believe he will not be wiped out!" ”

After Gao Hongshang finished speaking, everyone present began to calculate.

The reason why they support Chongzhen is actually reluctant to land, if the imperial court comes back to drive away these "pirates", then they can get back the land that originally belonged to them.

But now the situation in Jinan, let alone the land that has been lost, if they continue to resist stubbornly, it will be a question whether their lives can be saved.

The artillery of the Liaodong Army does not have long eyes.

Although it is impossible for Li Xianzhong to massacre the city, who can guarantee that he will not die "accidentally"?

In the end, everyone looked at King De, after all, he was the backbone of the gentry in Jinan.

In fact, King De is also hesitating, if Li Xianzhong insists on letting the "Haikou Kou" break the city, this is a clear indication that he is not ready to leave them a way out.

Now that he has personally come to attack Jinan, it means that he can accept their surrender.

After all, after the acting king announced his support for Emperor Hongguang, he was not killed.

He said: "In fact, General Zuo also supports Toucheng, but this king still hopes that we can get a promise from the king of Liaodong County, I don't know who dares to go outside the city to negotiate with Li Xianzhong on our behalf?" ”

"The bottom line naturally guarantees the safety of our lives, and the current military spending of the Hongguang Imperial Court must also be tight, this king is willing to take out 800,000 taels of silver, everyone can also make up some, we will make up enough 2 million taels of silver as military expenses, I believe we can always satisfy Li Xianzhong's appetite!"

Most of the gentry in the entire Shandong were here, and soon they had the remaining 1.2 million taels.

Gao Hongshang volunteered to go out of the city on behalf of the gentry of Jinan to negotiate with Li Xianzhong.

After a battle during the day, where did Zuo Liangyu still have the mind to resist.

However, Hou Sui was his benefactor after all, so he contacted King De and asked him to come forward to surrender.

In this way, it is better than him directly betraying Hou Sui.

Zuo Liangyu also sent his own lieutenant Li Guoying to escort Gao Hongshang out of the city, and he only had one condition, which was to hope that Li Xianzhong would not kill Hou Sui.

The arrival of Gao Hongshang and others had long been expected by Li Xianzhong, which was why he stopped attacking Jinan.

Regarding Zuo Liangyu's request not to kill Hou Sui, Li Xianzhong was not too embarrassed.

Although Hou Sui had spoken a lot about him in the city before, he was not without a little tolerance.

He said that as long as Hou Sui was loyal to the Hongguang court, he could not pursue Hou Sui, and he did not even need Hou Sui to apologize to himself.

Gao Hongshang's brother Gao Hongtu has now taken refuge in the Hongguang Imperial Court, but in addition to the Ministry of Rites, Li Xianzhong, the chief official of the six ministries, is directly appointed as an official of Liaodong, so Gao Hongtu was demoted by one level and served in Beijing as the left waiter of the Ministry of Works.

Taking refuge in Li Xianzhong is also the meaning of Gao Hongtu.

King De and others were willing to offer 2 million taels of silver, and Li Xianzhong was naturally happy to see it.

Of course, he couldn't admit Zheng Zhilong's matter.

However, Li Xianzhong said that His Majesty Hongguang had issued an order to recruit Zheng Zhilong, and negotiations were underway.

He will find a way to get back their ancestral homes and other properties, and as for the fields, he will leave 1,000 acres for each of them, and King De will also keep 10,000 acres of farmland.

As for their donation of military salaries, he will play the role of the Emperor of Heaven, and I believe that His Majesty will definitely commend them.

On September 13 of the first year of Hongguang, King Zhu Youshu announced his allegiance to Emperor Zhu Yousong of Hongguang and drew a clear line with the puppet Emperor Chongzhen!

At the same time, Zuo Liangyu opened the city gate of Jinan and welcomed Li Xianzhong, the king of Liaodong County, into Jinan Mansion.

After learning about the actions of Zuo Liangyu and others, Hou Sui scolded angrily: "You people who are greedy for life and afraid of death, are you just allowed to be slaughtered by Li Xianzhong? ”

Zuo Liangyu bowed his head and said nothing, but Gao Hongshang said: "We are taking refuge in the Hongguang Imperial Court, not the King of Liaodong himself. The king of Liaodong County has already played the Son of Heaven to commend us for our righteous act of subsidizing military salaries, and promised to try to get back our ancestral homes, properties and some acres of land from the hands of thieves, which can be regarded as the end of benevolence and righteousness! ”

"From the Hongguang Imperial Court to the Hongguang Emperor and the King of Liaodong himself, down to the common people, everyone pays the land tax, not against our gentry alone."

Hou Sui knew that they had lost, completely lost, as long as these people sampled other gentry, more and more gentry would succumb to Li Xianzhong's obscenity in the future!

He then drew his sword and tried to kill himself!

Zuo Liangyu beside him was quick-eyed, and hurriedly snatched the sword from his hand!

He said: "Teacher, stay in the green mountains without worrying about no firewood!" ”

At this time, Li Xianzhong's voice came, and he said: "This king promised Zuo Liangyu not to be embarrassed with you, and Hou Shilang does not have to look for death and life." ”

"This king knows that you are not convinced by this battle in Jinan, so he will give you another chance and let you go to Nanjing. The next time we meet, don't let this king down! ”

Hou Sui thought that Li Xianzhong would definitely humiliate himself with the attitude of a victor.

His move was really unexpected.

At this time, Hou Sui clasped his fists and said: "Hou has thanked the prince for his grace not to kill!" ”

So he left without looking back.

At this time, Li Xianzhong patted Zuo Liangyu's shoulder again and said: "This king has always had a clear distinction between love and hate, and grievances will be avenged!" This time it should be an exception for General Zuo, and then you have to serve the court well! ”

Zuo Liangyu is still very grateful to Li Xianzhong in his heart, although he donated the city in the name of King De, but he still has to bear a bad reputation for betraying his teacher after all!

Li Xianzhong's move is undoubtedly to save a lot of Zuo Liangyu's image!

Zuo Liangyu immediately knelt down and said: "The last general was originally the pioneer of the south, and he was determined to be the prince's liver and brain, and he did not give up!" ”

After everyone dispersed, Zhang Zhiji on the side said: "I think Zuo Liangyu is quite slippery, Hou Sui's reputation is not small, and he is also a rare person among civil officials who knows soldiers. ”

"The prince gave up Hou Sui in order to entrap Zuo Liangyu, I'm afraid it will be more than worth the loss!"

What kind of goods Zuo Liangyu is, Li Xianzhong naturally knows it in his heart.

However, he still has a little gratitude to Hou Sui!

Li Xianzhong said: "It is not the main purpose for me to entrap Zuo Liangyu, I am to reassure the Shandong gentry who have taken refuge in the imperial court, this king is definitely not a person who does not keep his promises!" ”

"This king can let go of people who have insulted him like Hou Sui, so naturally he won't settle accounts with them!"

"In addition, this king also needs someone to bring the news of Jinan to Jiangnan. So that those Jiangnan gentry know how to stand in line! ”

Zhang Zhiji said: "It's still the prince's foresight, but with the current military strength of the southern Zhili, it can't stop our cavalry at all, and even the sailors who are proud of the south are not as strong as us." The last general thought that as long as Chongzhen was intercepted, Jiangnan could pass the message, and there was no need to use swords again! ”

Li Xianzhong originally thought that Zhang Zhiji was just a "second ancestor", but he didn't expect him to be quite insightful, it seems that the British prince's family education is very strict, and he is much stronger than Zhu Chunchen, the prince of Chengguo!

However, he still underestimated these gentry in Jiangnan, if you move their core interests, they will definitely fight with you.

Li Xianzhong said with a smile: "In fact, for the Son of Hongguang, letting Chongzhen die at the hands of the rogue is the best result. As courtiers, you and I naturally have to take the initiative to share your majesty's worries! ”

"This is also the reason why this king is reluctant to directly send troops to capture Chongzhen."

"For the Jiangnan gentry, this king is not as optimistic as you. Don't forget, the most fierce tax resistance was the Suzhou Mansion, and they didn't even buy the 'nine thousand years old' Wei Zhongxian, who leaned towards the government and the opposition, and this king didn't expect them to be obedient! ”

Now Jinan has been won, and there is still one Yanzhou left in Shandong.

There are two big fish in Yanzhou, one is naturally in Yanzhou Mansion, King Lu Zhu Shouyong, and the other is his 'old friend' Kong Yinzhi, the Yansheng Gong of the dynasty!

Yanzhou is currently ravaged by the White Lotus Sect, and many local gentry have been killed.

However, these two big fish, Wang Xifan did not move.

Li Xianzhong let Zuo Liangyu be the vanguard and led his 15,000 men to attack Yanzhou Mansion.

Shandong General Liu Zhaoji and Zuo Liangyu can be said to be old acquaintances.

Even Zuo Liangyu's Yulin Battalion is not Li Xianzhong's opponent, so he naturally has no need to block the car with his mantis arm.

In addition, King De also sent a letter to King Lu, and King Lu is also ready to surrender!

There is a precedent for the gentry of Jinan Mansion to take the initiative to offer silver, and the surrender of Yanzhou Mansion is much easier.

If they agreed to these conditions, then Li Xianzhong's Liaodong army would go south to recover Yanzhou.

If they don't agree, then Wang Xifan's White Lotus Sect will conquer Yanzhou City, he has already killed King Heng in Baoding Mansion, so naturally he doesn't care about another King Lu under the sword.

Soon King Lu and the gentry of Yanzhou also announced their support for Emperor Hongguang and severed relations with the puppet emperor Chongzhen.

However, Yanzhou has been ravaged by the White Lotus Sect for many years, and in the end, their allowance was reduced to 1.5 million taels!

Li Xianzhong swaggered into Yanzhou Mansion in this way.

Since the second year of the Apocalypse, since the southern expedition to the White Lotus Sect, he has not picked up the wool of the Qufu Kong family for 8 years!

I believe that now the fat sheep of the Kong family has recovered a lot.

Li Xianzhong's first order after entering Yanzhou was to send Zhang Zhiji to lead his troops to Qufu and capture Kong Yinzhi, the Holy Duke of Yan, to Yanzhou!

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